Skillfully Probing the Attack on Women’s Rights
“Opting-out,” “security moms,” “desperate housewives,&rd... read full description
“Opting-out,” “security moms,” “desperate housewives,&rd... read full description
reviews
Jan 04, 2008
Trevor
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This book is worth reading not just to remind us that ‘the women's question’ has not been solved – and it is always timely to be reminded of that – but also because it shows how we are manipulated by the media in a way that is rare in any book. It is an utterly depressing read. I read this at about the time that I stopped watching American films – I have seen only really a handful of them since. Her description of Fatal Attraction ought to be made compulsory reading. Actually, the whole book s
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Dec 17, 2009
Anna
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I'm giving it 3 stars to put it in the middle. If this was the early/mid 90s then it would have had 5 stars. It was a book that came along just as I was figuring out my place in the world - as a woman. It tapped into things I was thinking and I think helped shape some of my views. Now at age 40 I'd like to read it again to see if it still applies.
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Oct 11, 2007
SuperCat
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Faludi takes on the 80s, decade of big hair, bad music, and, she claims, a new kind of backlash against feminism. Her thesis is that pop-culture of the 80s told women they had been liberated by the women's movement of the last decade, but were now suffering because of the very gains made by women's lib. She quips: it must be all that equality that's causing all that pain--But what equality?
Faludi's book has two main goals then, to bust the backlash myth that feminism is responsible f More...
Faludi's book has two main goals then, to bust the backlash myth that feminism is responsible f More...
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Dec 21, 2008
Elaine
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Faludi takes us from the retro-reactionary scriptwriters in Hollywood (mostly men!) to the misogynistic floors of factories during the 1980s, ten years after the feminist revolution, to show how truly anti-women American institutions had become, under the auspices that all of feminism's goals have been achieved. One of the biggest strengths of this book is Faludi's emphasis not only on the words of the people she interviews but their actions. As she interviews women like Faith Popcorn and Tony
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(3 people liked it)
Nov 21, 2010
Matilda
rated it:
I'm pretty biased to Faludi, so I can't review this book objectively. I enjoy her style, which is semi-academic, and I like the way she pulls up seemingly unrelated puzzle pieces from under the sofa, the shelf, the dog's slobbery mouth and creates a jigsaw that makes the reader go, "Duh, now I get the big picture."
Faludi's classic focuses on the late 70s and early 80s United States, to a time when women's rights were supposedly set. Roe vs. Wade came about, women were enterin More...
Faludi's classic focuses on the late 70s and early 80s United States, to a time when women's rights were supposedly set. Roe vs. Wade came about, women were enterin More...
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Dec 31, 2011
Teresa
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I should note that I read the 1992 original version of this book. I'd love to read the updated version. At any rate, I went into this book open minded but by no means sold on her thesis. I came out the other end totally convinced. This is a solid work of well-written, well-researched scholarship that drives home her undeniable theses that career women are not "suffering" for their pursuits and that there is a determined effort to create a public perception of how "dangerous"
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Dec 16, 2009
andrea
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Susan Faludi is an amazing investigative journalist. This is an exhaustive study of American attitudes toward feminism throughout history. I will go as far as to say that this is a book every liberal-minded girl and feminist-friendly (or even feminist-unfriendly) male should read. Backlash is a book that reaffirms history's cyclical, repetitive nature.
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Mar 21, 2008
Mia
rated it:
There's always some socio-political feminist lit in my rotation and Faludi's work is a contemporary feminist lit staple. I've been meaning to read it for quite some time since it seems like every major feminist theory piece references it...so far I seems like a necessary read, one that I embarrassingly should have read a long time ago.
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Apr 12, 2011
Backlash, a.k.a. el libro que Bridget Jones intentó hacer creer a Mark Darcy que había leído, es un ladrillo de 500 páginas lleno de datos, datos, datos y quejas justificadas: principalmente sobre cómo los medios de comunicación crean debates ficticios sobre temas "candentes" que no existían como tales hasta que aparecen impresos (cuidado con la sociología pop). También, porque no lo he leído linealmente sino que lo he ido abriendo un poco al azar durante este año: sobre cómo la indust
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(2 people liked it)
Mar 22, 2010
itpdx
rated it:
This is a feminist exposition of the backlash to women's advances of the 60's and 70's that has a lot of applicability to today. Again the job losses in the current recession have hit more men than women. (The industries with the biggest job losses-construction, investment banking and manufacturing are still very much male-dominated). So based on Faludi's reasoning we may be in for more backlash.
It explains why most of the prominent anti-abortion proponents are men. Evidently th More...
It explains why most of the prominent anti-abortion proponents are men. Evidently th More...
Apr 18, 2008
Beth
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So incredibly readable. I love the analysis she provides of tv and film. This is definitely a feminist text to be reckoned with. It is most definitely lengthy, but I think each chapter can be read on its own and in no particular order.
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Feb 21, 2008
Anthony
rated it:
Having been raised by a radical feminist mother, "Backlash" (along side Andrea Dworkin's "Woman Hating") gave me an insight into my Mother's frustration growing up. It stands as the most introspective book on feminism since "Against Our Will".
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(3 people liked it)
Nov 26, 2011
Jake
rated it:
There isn't much I can say that hasn't already been written about this truly ground-breaking text. Faludi skewers the anti-feminist culture and hegemony that dominates American society in every facet, from films to fashion to blue collar discrimination. I devoured the book over the course of a week or two, truly enjoying every single chapter, contorting my face at the horrors experienced by women during the Reagan years. My only complaint? In a few of the chapters, Faludi tends to skew more t
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Apr 21, 2010
ONTD
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LJ user pachakuti:
Yes, this is a little dated in some of its subject matter, but a compelling, well-written, incredibly well researched piece of literature about the 'backlash' against feminism. The book mainly deals with the backlash during the 80's against the 70's feminist revolutions, but reading through it makes you much more aware of how this backlash exists today, in a very real way, and how the 'backlash' shapes so much of popular culture and the behavior of the media. More...
Yes, this is a little dated in some of its subject matter, but a compelling, well-written, incredibly well researched piece of literature about the 'backlash' against feminism. The book mainly deals with the backlash during the 80's against the 70's feminist revolutions, but reading through it makes you much more aware of how this backlash exists today, in a very real way, and how the 'backlash' shapes so much of popular culture and the behavior of the media. More...
Jan 18, 2011
Elizabeth
rated it:
Faludi documents the 1980s backlash against American women's social and political gains in the 1970s. A ridiculously well-researched book (hence it's length?), Faludi describes the difficulties American women still face when trying to advance or maintain their sociopolitical rights.
I remember hearing that, as Faludi criticized others' use of statistics to prove their points, she, too, was accused of using statistics inappropriately. I don't know the sections to which that criticism ref More...
I remember hearing that, as Faludi criticized others' use of statistics to prove their points, she, too, was accused of using statistics inappropriately. I don't know the sections to which that criticism ref More...
Dec 31, 2011
Lara
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This is an excellent book, a Feminine Mystique for the 1980s. Faludi discusses every aspect of American culture - movies, music, television, fashion, makeup, employment, politics, reproductive rights - and calculatingly tears apart the detractors of feminism, revealing the subtle and covert war raged against women in the 1980s.
Despite this book's being twenty years old, I found it very pertinent to today's world. The past decade has certainly been a time of backlash, ranging from the h More...
Despite this book's being twenty years old, I found it very pertinent to today's world. The past decade has certainly been a time of backlash, ranging from the h More...
Mar 29, 2011
BeckyDMBR
rated it:
My favorite thing about Susan Faludi is the strength and accuracy of her BS-o-meter. My next favorite thing is her brilliant writing. The sad thing to realize after reading this 20-year-old book is that she could write the same book -- with all new but similar material -- today.
*sigh*
Faludi laid the groundwork for many authors who followed. Twenty years ago, she wrote " ... women in the '70s who were assertive and persistent discovered that they could begin to change More...
*sigh*
Faludi laid the groundwork for many authors who followed. Twenty years ago, she wrote " ... women in the '70s who were assertive and persistent discovered that they could begin to change More...
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Aug 09, 2010
Sarah
rated it:
In "Backlash: The Undeclared War against American Women," Susan Faludi asserts that each wave of significant advances in women’s rights has been met with a societal backlash, and then spends 400+ pages exhaustively outlining examples of just such a backlash. Case studies range from examples within the media, to politics, to the private sector, to academia. No part of American culture is left unexamined. While it can grow numbingly repetitive after awhile, the examples she gives are no
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Nov 08, 2008
Sara
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Many people believe that men are the more superior gender; women are dependent on men, they depend on their husbands to earn money and to help support the family. However if you are a feminist, this is a perfect book for you! Backlash, challenges this idea of whether women are really dependent on men; and also questions how independent a woman can be. Does a woman really need to be married in order to survive? How powerful is a woman? Moreover, Backlash juxtaposes the different types of women ou
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May 09, 2008
Tony
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An excellent analysis of the reacion against feminism in the United States. She gives many specific examples that support her argument that media and popular culture were used to undermine important elements of equality fro woman. it is well researched and well written.
I only give it four stars because I don't think she looked fully enough at the ways feminism has been misunderstood and abused feminists who were reacting against oppression and distorted valuable elements in ways that More...
I only give it four stars because I don't think she looked fully enough at the ways feminism has been misunderstood and abused feminists who were reacting against oppression and distorted valuable elements in ways that More...
May 06, 2008
Kimberly
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I tried to read this book 20 years too late, me thinks. Faludi relies on a lot of 80's media references to support her theory of backlash against the feminist movement of the 1970's. I was born in 1981 and unfortunately I'm only vaguely familiar with most of the statistics, events, and movies that Faludi discusses in Backlash. And I'm not really that motivated to sit with wikipedia open while I read this book and bring myself up-to-speed with the media happenings of the decade of my birth. W
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Jul 04, 2009
Lisa
rated it:
Wow, people used to think single women Feminists were ruining the world, when it's really Soccer Moms emasculating male children and promoting lame, civilization-ending PC shit like teachers can't use red ink to grade papers because it might hurt the kids' feeeelllings.
Honestly, I'm a woman and I have to say that, regardless, women need to monitor themselves in the workplace to figure out why they aren't being taken seriously. If you were a man, would you take someone seriously tottering More...
Honestly, I'm a woman and I have to say that, regardless, women need to monitor themselves in the workplace to figure out why they aren't being taken seriously. If you were a man, would you take someone seriously tottering More...
Jan 22, 2008
Jessica
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As others have said, this book should be required reading. Though it deals with the 80's and feminism, the principles behind how to be critical of the press and not believing everything you hear/read are absolutely sound and applicable across all stories in all media, even more so today than in the early 90's as fewer and fewer people are controlling the ethos behind our media.
In the lastest bit I'm reading about fashion: the fashion industry does no market research and for the whol More...
In the lastest bit I'm reading about fashion: the fashion industry does no market research and for the whol More...
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Jul 14, 2008
Emily
rated it:
Am I glad I barely recall my first decade on earth - the '80s. One doesn't need to remember much to have the feeling that the country was caught up in a materialist, conservative bacchanal that cried, "Let's feel good again! Stop being so angry and caring about politics/equality! Just go shop and you'll be happy!" Faludi is dead-on in declaring it the era of the Backlash.
She deserves a lot of credit for the depth of her research and the unforgiving tenacity of her thesi More...
She deserves a lot of credit for the depth of her research and the unforgiving tenacity of her thesi More...
Jul 20, 2009
Jen
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I read this eons and eons ago - I assume around the time it first came out. I was a lot younger when I read it. I remember this book as being one of those "you have to read this" books. I recall reading it straight through and finishing it in a few days. However, what I read completely eludes me at the moment, which is odd considering the topic of the book. I believe in strong women - but I don't throw myself into works about feminism. This is one of the only books of this nature
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May 17, 2010
Becky
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Only had to read the first section to be convinced that, holy crap, the eighties really were even more awful than I'd dreamed! While many of the absurd myths and trends that this book catalogues have long since passed, we still don't have important rights and benefits like paid parental leave, and people are *still* prefacing sentences with, "I'm not a feminist."
Oh, and the level of research and analysis that obviously went into this is incredibly impressive. That's why it'
Oh, and the level of research and analysis that obviously went into this is incredibly impressive. That's why it'
Nov 20, 2011
Ryan
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Agree with the sentiment but many of the points are just stories and not evidence of a broader trend, which leads to the "preaching to the choir" effect common in feminist nonfiction. The interviews, especially with the conservative women, were the most informative and eye-opening. Statistics were clearly hard to come by, as evidenced by always coming back to a study done by Virginia Slims, the authenticity of which I'd doubt in 1990 much less 2011.
Apr 09, 2009
Amanda
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An interesting look at women, both the waves of feminism and the opposite. Really enjoyed the look at art, media and entertainment and much of the effect of the religious right on the women's roles was illuminating - basically it seemed the female champions of women's traditional roles in the home were dead set against actually playing the very roles they were promoting and somehow the irony was lost on the champions themselves. Engaging read all told.
Aug 19, 2010
Mrs_M
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I herald this book. Becoming a feminist just after the turn of the century, the political, spiritual, and educational structure of our society has been in a sort of "defense" mode after the declaration of equality by women, while threatened men put on the breaks in the most bizarre political and media strongholds imaginable.
When I finished this book, I realized that the strength of women is only matched in quantity by the fear in men.
It made sense to me.
When I finished this book, I realized that the strength of women is only matched in quantity by the fear in men.
It made sense to me.
Nov 29, 2008
Libby
rated it:
This was a very difficult book to read but very thorough and with what I thought was a very fair and accurate analysis of events during the period of the backlash, as defined by the author. It related to a lot of my own experiences growing up, out of the 80's and in the religious right movement. It also helped me to see more bias in my news sources and basically ruined most movies for me. :-)
